Forgotten
by OuzoAthena11
Summary: Set right after HSM 1. In the aftermath of the Triple win, someone and their birthday is forgotten. Secrets the person has kept is revealed in the process to an unlikely person. Please review. I have no idea if it is bad or not.


A/n This randomly popped in my head while I was contemplating the arrival of my 14th birthday in January. This takes place right after HSM 1. The point of view jumps a lot, so pay attention!

Disclaimer: If I owned it, Chad would be more prominent. I wish. Wait, I did for my birthday wish! LOL. I don't own the movie Robin Hood: Men in Tights either, or the first book I mention. See if you can figure what book it is!

I rolled over in bed and looked at the clock. 6:45. Might as well get up. I stretched as I stood up from my bed. I quickly changed and went downstairs to grab some breakfast.

I searched through the fridge for something. Ah-ha! Leftover pizza. I took a few slices out and closed the door. I sighed as I looked at the calendar. Today is Saturday, the day after we won the championships, and tomorrow is my birthday.

I don't think anyone remembered. I almost forgot myself. Okay, I did forget. I remembered when I got home on Thursday and got some presents for apparently no reason. We have a tradition of celebrating it over the week and on the weekend I hang out with friends. Don't think that's going to happen this year.

I munched on my pizza as I thought. No one will be up for a while, so I can go to my favorite place and relax. I grinned. I quickly scribbled a note to my parents saying where I was going and when I left.

I trotted to the street corner and walked right into the corner house, which doubles as a bookstore. Yep, the lunkhead basketball man, Chad Danforth is willingly going into a bookstore.

"Chad, what are you doing here? You know you are off this weekend. And you should know better than to try to work over the weekend of your birthday!" My boss, Isabel lectured.

I chuckled as I walked into the employee's lounge, also known as a kitchen. "I just came to relax. We had that big game last night and I am a little stiff, as usual. Besides, it's not that early."

"You call 7:34 not early?!" she shook her head, "Well, your book is where you left it Wednesday and its not my fault if you get conned into working today."

I grinned sheepishly. I had been convinced to work once when I was relaxing and blamed Isabel. I grabbed the afore mentioned book and walked back into the "store" also known as a living room. I strode over to the nice, comfortable area for reading and plopped down on a pillow. I immediately began reading.

///////Gabriella's POV///////////

I got up early to go to my new job. In between everything that had been happening at school I managed to get a job. I had to be there by 8:00. I wish now I hadn't gone to the after party. I am so exhausted now.

I arrived at the store and Isabel greeted me. She showed me where to put my stuff. I followed her out the door to the actual store. I blinked in surprise. There were a lot more people shopping here than I thought there would be, especially this early.

Isabel looked around, "Great. Just great. Cody and Melissa are busy and it looks like I am needed too. I will have to have..." she trailed off mumbling to herself. I caught "upset" and "good thing," but nothing else. Finally, she took off toward the reading area where there was a lone person reading. He looked goofy because he was upside down.

Isabel leaned down and poked him. He didn't look up or rather, down from his book but sighed, "Okay, let me guess. The shop is too busy for you to show the new worker around and you want me to do it instead. I'll do it." He added, "She'll have to wait 'til I finish up this chapter, though."

I stood there dumbfounded. The kid didn't even pause his reading! Isabel just rolled her eyes. She looked at me, "Don't worry, he's always like this. He has a one track mind when it comes to reading. He knows this place almost better than me, so he's a good person to show you around."

She turned to go into the gaggle of people, and paused, "Two more things, if you go to school with him, he's different here because he's always been like this, he had to hide it because of the how everyone is at school or something like that. And he'll come out of reading that book thinking a lot like that book. After finishing up a Harry Potter book, he asked for pumpkin juice. Don't worry about that either. And yes I am trying to procrastinate and not procrastinate at the same time" She hurried away.

"Wait!" I called after her. "You forgot to tell me who he is!" But it was too late, she was gone. I sat down on a pillow and settled down for a wait. I cannot figure out who he is. Well, whoever it is, he is already on my good side, because he enjoys reading books so much he doesn't like to be disturbed. I started to stare off into space, lost in my memories of previous schools.

//////////Chad's POV///////////

_Bilbo had escaped. _I closed the book. And was about to get up, but I then I noticed that I managed somehow to get upside down. Again. After I managed to untangle myself, I observed the new girl, and realized that it is Gabriella. I wonder whether she can figure out riddles.

"Hello." I said. She looked up looking confused. I took a deep breath and recited, "This thing all things devours: Birds, beasts, tree, flowers; Gnaws iron, bites steel; Grinds hard stones to meal; Slays kings, ruins town, And beats high mountain down." She still looked confused so I repeated it and added, "It's a brilliant riddle."

She thought about it, then cautiously said, "Time?"

"Correct," I said with a grin. Finally, someone who could determine the meaning of that particular cryptic description on the first try! "Okay, then time to give you the grand tour, Gabriella."

"Okay," she hesitated, "Who are you and how did you know my name?"

"You and Troy managed to make it to the auditions last night and won your respective sports." I shrugged and started to walk to a book shelf.

She gaped at me as she realized who I am. "Chad?" I stopped. "Whoa. So you've always had a love for books, but because of how severe the cliques are, you had to hide it, and now if you reveal it, no one will believe you or will completely freak out?" She is sure fast on figuring out stuff like that!

I smiled, "That about sums it up. Oh, and sorry about trying to prevent you and Troy from getting to the auditions. I had a very bad experience with going against the quo and was worried about it happening again. Stupid status quo. I actually get straight A's and I have a love for most things. Singing, art, musicals, I love them all. Just wish..." I noticed her staring at me. I groaned, realizing what I was doing, "Sorry, I tend to ramble on and on forgetting who's listening."

This time she grinned, "I was wondering when you would stop." she admitted, "But, the real guy that's not all about basketball is pretty cool. I guess we better get moving."

"Right." I said, trying to hide the fact that I had been staring at her. Well, she is very beautiful. I showed her around for the next two hours. We talked about various things, like my_ real_ interests, global warming, where she lived before, Troy, and what we're learning in school.

We ended the tour by going to the employee's lounge. We were sipping smoothies when Gabriella spoke up.

"So, why did Isabel seem reluctant to get you to show everything to me?"

I smiled sheepishly, "This is supposed to be my weekend off. Tomorrow's my birthday." I sighed, knowing that even my so-called best friend had forgotten, because of Gabriella's shocked look.

"Really?" She seemed to realize that I was disappointed that Troy had neglected to tell her. "It must have been forgotten because of all that mess that's happened since New Year's."

"I don't mind." I lied. I didn't want her to know that. "Hey, when you get off would you like to come over to my house? It's only a few houses down." At least I won't be lonely then.

"Sure, that would be great." She grinned.

I peeked at the clock and glanced again. "Time to go. Do you understand everything?"

"I think so." She looked nervous.

I smiled encouragingly, "Don't worry, ask if you need help." I was halfway out the door before I went back and snatched my book, "Now, I really don't want to leave this here," I commented with a laugh.

////////Gabriella's POV//////////

Well, that was... interesting. I learned more about Troy talking to Chad than with Troy. Who knew that Troy had a major obsession with pink when he was 8! Or that a dare left him with pierced ears. And if you look carefully, you can still see the holes!

Poor Chad though, I could tell he was disappointed that Troy had forgotten about his birthday. I wonder... I could call Troy remind him, and then we could probably plan a surprise party! That would be fun, and it could help us break down those barriers between the cliques.

\\\\\\6 hours later\\\\\\

I waved good bye to Isabel and walked over to Chad's house. I raised my hand to knock, but the door opened before I could. Geez, someone was eager to see me.

"I wanted to get the door before Mom could and ask several awkward questions," He explained in response to my raised eyebrow.

I followed him upstairs to his room. It was filled with things other than basketball posters like I half expected. We ended up watching The Lion King. I couldn't believe he even owned it! I was even more shocked when he began to sing along. He has an incredible voice. I had to leave all to soon. I had an amazing time!

As soon as I got home I called Troy. "Hey, Troy. Do you know what the date is tomorrow?"

"January 20th, why?"

"Oh, no reason." I can't wait until he figures it out if he's that clueless!

"Okay then. How was work?"

"It was fun. One question, do you still wear earrings?"

"What?" he sputtered, "How did you know about that?"

"Chad had to show me around."

"Why? It's his weekend off because of his birthday..." He trailed off as he fell off of whatever he was on. "Stupid bed." He muttered.

I giggled, "Troy, were you still in bed?"

"No, I was relaxing. I am still tired, even though I woke up at noon."

"Nice. So, why didn't you tell me about Chad's birthday?"

"Because I forgot." He paused. "That must be why he refused to go to the park tomorrow!"

"Duh. Do you think we could plan a surprise party for him?"

"Yeah! He's always wanted one! How should we do it?"

We talked about our plan for a while until we decided to put our plan in action and call everyone who is to be involved.

///////Chad's POV////////

I woke up early again, so I went to the bookshop again.

"Happy birthday, Chad! I will try not to interrupt you today." Isabel called.

I waved, "Thanks!" I found my favorite place to read. I read a whole book in two hours during that time and Isabel decided to make me read another book, not that I minded.

///////No one's POV///////

Gabriella made sure that Chad was reading before explaining the situation to Isabel, who was willing to make sure Chad was reading until it was cleared for him to get home.

Everyone who was to be involved in the party was to be at Chad's house getting some rooms ready for the party. When Chad gets home, all the rooms that weren't done will get done. Then when he goes downstairs they will surprise him.

Gabriella called up Sharpay, who agreed to do it for some unknown reason. "Hey, Phase one is complete, time to get phase two moving."

Sharpay grinned, she was nicer, but still evil. "So where do you work that keeps Chad occupied? A sports store?"

"Nope. You'll never guess. And I am not going to tell you. To give you a hint, though, he works here too, but is off for his birthday."

"That's interesting." Sharpay mused. "I'll talk to you when phase two is finished then."

"See ya." Gabriella cheerfully hung up. She grinned as she started helping customers find what they want.

About four hours later, Chad stood up because he was finished with his second book, and was hungry. Gabriella made sure he didn't go further than the kitchen. Luckily, he didn't notice his "stalker."

Gabriella was breathing a sigh of relief that he was eating there, when her cell phone buzzed. As soon as she was out of hearing range of everyone she answered, "Hello?"

Sharpay's exasperated voice responded, "Finally! We just finished up. Time for Phase 3. Send the fortunate boy home, so that we can continue. What has he been doing?"

"All right then. It's none of your business. I get off in an hour, so I'll come over then. See ya."

"Wait-" Gabriella shut the phone. Sharpay will figure it out eventually anyways knowing her, so what's the point in telling her and taking away her fun?

She trotted cheerfully back into the store. Chad was browsing through the books halfheartedly. She snuck up on him, "Hey there! What'cha so down about?" She grinned as Chad almost flew through the roof.

He glared at her "Well I don't know... how about I have nothing to read because I have read most the books here, or my friends don't even remember my birthday."

"Ouch. Why don't you go home then? I'll come over later."

He smiled slightly, "Okay. See ya then!" He sauntered outside a little more upbeat than before.

Troy, Ryan, Jason, Zeke, Kelsi, Sharpay, and Taylor were the people that were setting up the decorations. They set a CW: Chad Watch. The order was Troy, Jason, Zeke, Kelsi, Taylor, Ryan, and finally, Sharpay. Every 15 minutes they switched off. If everything went according to plan, Ryan and Sharpay wouldn't need to do it anyways.

Troy, Zeke, and Jason all had the similar view of Chad listening and singing to iTunes, and playing the Wii at the same time.

Kelsi walked up the stairs to relieve Zeke of CW. "What's he doing?" She queried.

Zeke could only shake his head and point towards the door. He was still in shock about the fact that Chad, _Chad _"The lunkhead basketball man" as Taylor would call him, was singing. Kelsi looked in and her jaw dropped. Zeke left without her noticing.

Chad was at this point just lounging around in the computer chair, shooting at targets on the Wii. But, that wasn't the what shocked her. Oh, no. He was singing "Put the Lime in the Coconut." And was doing pretty good. Kelsi stood there watching him for a few seconds as he turned off the Wii and put in a movie. He also turned off iTunes whilehe went on a website that had a lot of writing on it.

Kelsi suddenly knew what to do for his present as she gazed around at his basketball deprived room. She had been clueless until now, but now she had an idea. Good thing her notebook was nearby. She sat and observed Chad, who was typing now and imitating the rappers, "...And in a little while he would be no more..." She smiled, she recognized the movie; a hilarious, slightly musical version of Robin Hood.

She had just finished when Taylor came up, "Hey, Kels. What is he doing? The guys won't say."

Kelsi answered, "You wouldn't believe me." With that being said, she skipped down the stairs, leaving Taylor staring at the door.

//////////Taylor's POV//////////

I stared apprehensively at the door. Why wouldn't I believe Kelsi? It can't be something bad. Could it?

After debating with myself for awhile I decided that a peek would not do anyone any harm. I looked in and I almost shrieked in shock. Luckily, I covered my mouth in time. Once I was sure that I had recovered from my shock, I looked in again to see if my mind was playing tricks on me. Chad was singing and dancing to the song "Men in Tights" I am assuming he went ahead on the movie. That wasn't the only thing that got me, though.

By looking around, I would never guess that this room belongs to basketball star Chad Danforth. I don't think that there is anything in here that is even remotely related to basketball. There's several books hanging around the room, though.

Once I took in the sights of the surprising room, I turned my attention to Chad, who is now singing the next song in the movie. As I was observing him, I noticed that he not only was acting different, but he looked different. When he finally sat down, I got a good look at his face. It was then that I realized that he was wearing glasses. _Glasses. _That threw me for a loop.

I had been staring at him, yes staring at him for several minutes, when I heard the doorbell ring. Huh? Gabi knows she shouldn't do that. I darted downstairs since Chad was likely to come down anyways.

I had just made it downstairs when Chad's mom called him, "Chad! Get down here! Your boss wants to speak with you!" I grinned, now I can find out where he works!

"Coming!" Whoa, does he have a crush on her or something? Chad bounded down the stairs, skidding to a halt right in front of the living room, where all of us were hiding behind the furniture. I looked at his boss, who I recognized as the kind owner of the bookstore down the street... He works at a BOOKSTORE!?

"Whadya want?" he asked, regaining his breath.

Isabel, I think that's her name, rolled her eyes, "Well, I was going through the books that came in today, and you know what I found?" She didn't wait for an answer as she held up a book. A thick book.

Chad looked like an eager puppy as he started to bounce around in excitement. "That's the book I've wanted for ages! I know its coming off of my next paycheck. THANKS!!!!!!!!" He grabbed the book and immediately immersed himself in the pages. He walked through the living room with his nose stuck in the book and plopped down on the nearest recliner, not paying attention to us teens that were gawking at him.

Isabel chuckled, "You're welcome." She rolled her eyes as she got no response, "Now that that errand is done, I can take a nice long break." She left with Chad's parents, who are going on a date, so they don't bother us.

All of us, minus Chad and Gabriella, stared at each other in shock. Gabi was trying not to laugh at our reactions to Chad's reaction to a book. Now who knew that Lunkhead actually can read! And was quite willing to as well!

Gabi said, "Come on, let's get this room done."

All of us were moving around putting up decorations while Chad shifted as he read. I can't believe that he hasn't noticed us moving around him.

We stood in front of him, Troy mouthed, 1, 2, 3...

///////Chad's POV//////

"SURPRISE! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" I fell off the couch, dropping my book. Ouch. That's what I get for reading to close to the edge. I looked up in shock as what surprised me sunk in. I saw faces of my friends and red and white... blobs. Right, glasses fell off. I grabbed them so I could see what the decorations are.

I put them on and the first thing I noticed was not the incredible decorations, but the shocked look on my friends' faces. Oops, don't think I ever told them that I wear contacts. Wait a minute, they must have been here for a while, so they most likely saw that whole episode with Isabel.

"Dude, are you going to say something?" Jason, ever the oblivious person.

"Right, sorry, got lost in thought." I bent down and picked up my book, finding the correct page almost immediately. I looked around and decided to break the stunned silence, "Who, what, when, where, why, how?" I paused, "Okay, so I know who and I know the what, where, and when, but what about the others?"

Everyone started laughing as they shook themselves out of their daze. Gabi answered, "The only other was why. You were disappointed, anyone could see that, so I called up Troy and talked to him. And brought up one of his secrets." She subtly pointed to her ears.

I knew exactly what she meant, but now is the time to play dumb, "You mean his obsession with pink? That's no secret, at least it wasn't." I added as I glanced at the shock turned to glee look on Sharpay's face.

"You mean you told her that, too? Gabi only told me you told her about the dare!" Troy yelled, his face turning red.

I plopped on the couch, knowing exactly how to get him to reveal the secret. I pulled an innocent face, "What dare? The one where you dressed like a girl and went out in front of your parents guests and they actually thought that you were a girl, Troyella?" Everyone but Troy collapsed on the ground in hysterics.

"NO! The one where I ended up with my ears pierced for the summer last year!!!!"

Zeke looked up, "Oh, so _that's_ why you wouldn't see any of us last year. Me and Jason thought you were too embarrassed to be seen with us, not that you were too embarrassed to go out in public." Troy finally managed a weak smile, though he still looked ready to murder me and then go hide in a hole.

Kelsi jumped up, "Hey, why don't we get this party started, then?" Everyone agreed quickly, so as to get out of the way of Troy.

Pretty soon, the party was well underway. I went and put my forgotten book up in my room, where I would find it. I turned off my long forgotten movie. I turned to the computer where I had been writing fanfiction and quickly added a few words and added it to the site, before my thought process was forgotten.

"Hey, Chad," Taylor broke my thoughts, "Why didn't you tell anyone that you are smart?" she questioned softly.

I looked at her, "Remember 7th grade? I went against the flow and almost lost all my friends in the process." Seeing her about to protest, I went on hastily, "I know if I lost my friends because of the quo that they aren't really friends, but it went much deeper than that because I lied to them."

Taylor nodded as if she understood, but I am not sure she did. "Why don't we go back to your party?"

I nodded. As I walked out the room, I tried to remember what exactly it was that I typed, since it came out of nowhere. What was it? Oh yeah "Neville smiled, for the Halloween day that started out so horrible for him, turned extraordinary as he realized what true friends do when someone is forgotten." I smiled, knowing how I unknowingly paralleled his friends surprising him with mine.

As I joined the dancing, I knew that everything would come out eventually and when it did I would find out just who my friends really are.

The end.

A/n I have been working on this for weeks! Don't worry about Real World I haven't forgotten it. I will get right to typing up the chapter as soon as this is up.

Oh, and I can't update my profile because I have Safari. Doesn't that stink?

KC


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